for that race in ‘08 and I know I have a lot of work to do if I want to get the rainbow stripes back. I am going to prepare the best I can for it and try my hardest. I would love to be able to win there in front of the home crowd but I know it’s going to take a lot. I don’t think it’s an impossible task so I will be going there to try and win. What do you think you will be doing differently with regards to training in comparison to previous years in preparation for the 2009 World Champs? Just some top-secret stuff! What changes are you hoping for with regard to the Stromlo Downhill for the Australian Championships and the World Championships in 2009? There really is still a lot they can do with the area they have built the track on. I would like to see it a bit more technical stuff up the top and it would be good to seem them either take the flat out at the bottom or have a more high-speed entry into the flat with some nice big jumps to break up the pedalling. How do you feel the Stromlo DH Course compares to other World Cup venues, and more importantly, to other World Championship courses that you have competed on? I only have negative feedback about it so I might just keep my mouth shut and stay out of trouble. [laughs] Will you only be competing in World Cups this year and if so why? My schedule will have me focusing on World Cups and the World Champ’s. They are the premiere races and what Monster Energy/ Specialized and I want to compete in. I will also be competing in some other one-off events like the US Open, Crankworks, and other events we might have time to do. What’s the best thing about having Brendan Fairclough on your team again? He is just a cool guy, we get along really well and he goes off on a bike so it’s all deadly. Last year during your off season you did some runs at the Awaba track outside of Newcastle. What were Yeah, I think the track is sick – it has a lot of really good turns, rocks, jumps and all-round fun stuff. It is good to see people putting in time to build something cool.
121
Clict Photo Annual SAM HILL
your thoughts on the track?